Universe, tarpaulin in lightbox, 60 x 42 x 12cm, Hide Those Dirty Hands (solo show), The Joinery, Dublin, Oct 2011

 
James Merrigan of +Billion Art Journal, 11/2011
Adrian Duncan of Paper Visual Art Journal, 01/2012

‘On the other side of Dublin City in the modest non-profit project space The Joinery, Northern Irish artist Keef Winter literally gets his hands and the viewer's mind dirty in the solo show Hide those dirty hands. The 'hidden' is underscored by the term “glory holes” in the press release (primarily a hole in a public lavatory wall were people can engage in, or observe sexual activity). On the day of viewing it was wet, grey and humid, adding an element of sweat to the experience.

What we have here in contrast to Arte Povera poesis, is a 'back-alley' aesthetic of tight dark corridors and the imagined surreptitious footsteps that bespeak clandestine behaviour. The 'back-alley' aesthetic comes to the fore in the dark back room of The Joinery (for new viewers this area could be mistaken for a 'private' space) tarpaulin and shrink wrap encase a 4x2 timber construction with steps and swinging door, inviting the viewer to step up, and in, to play out a fantasy for the glory hole viewer.

All the elements and structures that Winter has conceived of for The Joinery claustrophobically turn back into each other. In one instance a ventilation hose sidewinds inside a case of perspex. Winter does give us moments of release in his “glimmering” lightboxes with ordered geometrical elements; but the artist’s dominant ‘stages’, where close physical acts could be played out, prevent distant celestial meditation. If not so inclined, you can imagine others getting down and dirty in a back-alley somewhere (while looking up and beyond the blocked gutters at a night sky).

James Merrigan, +Billion Art Journal, No. 27 'Adhoc Museum', 2011.